Kei Gratton, Artist (Repost)

In honor of Kei Gratton's new show at Gallery 360 in Minneapolis, I am reposting my 2019 interview with Kei with images from the exhibition. Thank you for reading! (All images courtesy of the artist / Instagram: @keigratton / Website: keigratton.com)

Jackson: Does nature influence your paintings? I think of outside when I see them.

Kei: Absolutely. I like to think of my paintings as internal landscapes, reflections from within. I grew up in the woods and spent endless hours pretending I was a pioneer living off the land. Spirit animals are my muse and I am always collecting stones...they are timeless sacred objects and their magical properties are certainly present in my paintings. I also love the female body and how she mirrors so much of nature's landscape. If you look closely there's a lot of female imagery in my "landscapes". It's all so playful and secretive.

Jackson: When and how did you first become interested in art? Do you think you were born with it?

Kei: I studied Art Education and a lot of my friends were serious studio majors. They ALL went off to get their Master's degrees and I went to Germany and got married. But it was there that I found my voice as an artist and was given the opportunities to develop myself as an exhibiting working artist. I had my first one person show in a really great gallery in Hamburg when I was 27 years old. I sort of felt like a fraud because I didn't follow protocol. Crazy. Was I born with it? I was born connected to another mystical realm. It's like I am always searching to find a way to describe it on canvas or paper...sometimes I feel like I nailed it. Sometimes.

Jackson: If you could meet any artist living or dead, who would it be and why?

Kei: George Raftopolous. He's a Greek/Australian contemporary abstract artist. I'm rather obsessed. And he's funny. Humble. He inspired the Emperor in my tarot paintings for sure. One day he started following me on Instagram and I just dropped. 

Klaire Lockheart, Artist

 

Hello and welcome to the 66th 3 Art Questions With Jackson interview! This time I interviewed the super fun and talented artist Klaire Lockheart. I discovered her art on an art road trip and have been paying close attention since. She is always up to something interesting and her answers were fantastic. I think you will agree! Thank you for reading! (All images courtesy of the artist, except Judith Beheading Holofernes: Uffizi Gallery / Instagram: @klairelockheart  / Website: klairelockheart.com)

Jackson: How did you find yourself on an artistic path in life? Are you self taught or formally trained?

Klaire: Despite being born fully-formed out of the head of Frida Kahlo, I have no natural talent as an artist. For the way I paint, it takes immense time, effort, and practice. I didn't learn how to paint with oils until I attended graduate school at the University of South Dakota, and I owe a massive amount of gratitude to my incredible painting professors Chelsey Wood and Heidi Hogden. I'm also thankful for my art history instructors Carol Geu and Sarak Sik. After I earned my MFA in Painting in 2016, I've been continually learning and growing as an artist by observing art in person, reading about artists from the past, plus good ol' trial and error. 

Jackson: How did you settle on your style? Are you a people watcher/observer?

Klaire: When I paint dudes in man caves, I purposefully paint in an historic style so my finished artwork looks as though it could be long in a museum packed with traditional 19th century canvases generated by European men. This was an era when women weren't permitted equal opportunities in education and were effectively banned from studying art, particularly the human form.

My brodalisque paintings are a combination of a masculine "bro" posed like a classical "odalisque", and I depict contemporary men using techniques developed centuries ago. I devote months, and sometimes years, building layers of oil paint to create depth, shadow, and details for each work of art. With each new painting, I spend more and more time preparing the compositions. I'll take notice of how men present themselves "out in the wild", whether it is a local college campus, the Sturgis motorcycle rally, or anywhere in-between. I use this real life inspiration when I stage my compositions.

Jackson: If you could meet any artist living or dead, who would it be and why?

Klaire: If I had a time machine and could speak 17th century Italian, I would love to meet Baroque artist Artsemisia Gentileschi. She created epic paintings of strong women using dramatic light and shadow. Her subjects not only look like actual, not idealized women, but they also have agency. When I visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, I was incredible lucky and got to see Judith Beheading Holofernes in person.

This massive painting is set in a dark room, and Artemesia depicted a pair of women dressed in blue and gold as they pin their oppressor to a bed draped in white sheets so they can hack off his head with a sword. Regardless of the violent scene, I was blown away by Artemisia's work and I'd get out of observing her paint. I'm curious if my approaches to painting dramatic shadows are similar to her's, and if we differ I'd like to pick up a few painting tips. Additionally, judging from Artemisia's letters, I get the feeling she was a bit snarky. I bet it would be fun to chat with her!